Skip to main content
2025 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo Main banner
Amphistar Ad
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

2025 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

Health and Nutrition

Impact of Fatty Acid Profiles on Milk and Dairy Product Quality

Fat profiles of milk obtained from different dairy systems and seasons with focus on the healthy fatty acids: CLA, TVA, Odd and branched chain

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
8:55 AM – 9:15 AM PST
Room: A105
Abstract:

Milk and dairy products hold significant nutritional value in the human diet, supplying essential energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals. The concentration and composition of milk fat can be easily altered by dietary adjustments. Cow milk contains lipids that are abundant in bioactive properties, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) and branched chain fatty acids (BCFAs) that have been shown to have human health benefits.

CLA and TVA (an intermediate in CLA formation) have been reported to offer beneficial health effects, including: hypocholesterolemic, anticarcinogenic, antiatherogenic properties, modulation of the immune response, and improvement of bone mineralization. Moreover, BCFAs, specifically C15:0 and C17:0 iso and anteiso (odd chain FA) have proved inhibitory effects on tumor cells as well as  to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and improve the fluidity of cell membranes.

This study aimed to evaluate the fatty acid (FA) profile in milk from commercial farms with varying pasture levels in the diet during spring and fall. Milk sampling was conducted biweekly from six farms in five periods for each season, categorized into high (HP) and low (LP) pasture treatments based on pasture intake: >60% and < 35%, respectively.

No differences were observed in milk fat percentage between HP and LP in either season. High pasture had 85–66% more CLA, (p = 0.01), 74–48% more TVA, (p = 0.01), and 21–15% more BCFAs, (p = 0.006) contents than LP in spring and fall, respectively.

In conclusion, HP treatments in both seasons had higher contents of FAs considered healthy for consumers compared to LP.